other creative writing The Tale of Laniakea

[nicjomo]

Chapter 1
The Magic Bottle
(Originally uploaded Feb. 8, 2016)

  It was 3:45 am. Sunday morning. A girl in a hooded sweatshirt is seen stumbling the streets, giggles could be heard piercing the night. She was coming home from a party, a bit drunk. Specifically, it was her birthday party. She had just turned 24, and now planned to spend a good chunk of her Sunday sleeping and recovering from the hangover she assumed she would have.

    She walked up some steps and stood wobbling in front of a door. She fondled around in her pockets trying to find something. With success in her face, she pulled out the object: her keys. She began to fumble with them, trying to find the correct key to the door. As she did, she noticed something sparkling on the ground. She jumped off the small landing, and pushed her face closer to it. She couldn’t make out everything about the object, but what she could tell was that it was a bottle! “Aww…zomebody gave me ‘nother dink fo me birth’ay! Zats cuuuuuuute~!” She giggled uncontrollably, as she picked it up. She cradled it close to her face, as she walked back up the stairs, and bumped right into the door. “ ‘Scuse me, madame! I believe you are blockin me way! Move over, so I can haz a date with me new friend ere!” She raised an eyebrow, looking at the door. “Ah…You’ll move for a key? Aright then! Here…” She stuck the key into the lock, and the door opened. She took the key, and shut the door behind her. “Never said you had to keep the key! Maybe next time, Sally…” She giggled, as she headed for the stairs.

    Four floors she climbed, as she “quietly” made her way to her room, visions of drinking the bottle she had found outside the complex filing her head. Finally, she had reached her door! “I thought I was going to be in stair limbo for eternity! Now…for de sweet…sweet arms…of me bed…” She smiled, turning to the bottle. “I think you’ll like ‘im…” She whispered. She dug around for her keys again, proceeding to go through the door. Once inside, she danced her way through the dark, bumping into every wall, as she made her way to her bedroom. She proceeded to strip out of her sweatshirt, unzipping it, and somewhat gracefully flinging it off. Once the hooded sweatshirt was removed, she could be visibly seen. Her pitch black hair, which blended well with the night-sky, went down to the crook of her back and flowed like a long scarf in the wind, as she danced through the hall. Her amber color eyes twinkled and sparkled like the tiny stars up above the world so high. Her skin, although a bit on the pale side due to too much coverage from her favorite sweatshirt, had a slight creaminess to it. A creaminess that was similar to that of a chocolate covered cream candy.

    After all this dancing and sweatshirt flinging, she still somehow managed to hold onto the bottle. Then, she finally reached her room. Her hands grabbed onto the inner wall, fumbling around to find the switch. After minutes of fumbling, she finally clicked on a light. “Ahhhh…bed sweet bed…” She smiled, as she turned to look at the bottle. Her expression changed into confusion, as she got a better look at it. This bottle was no alcoholic beverage bottle at all. To her, she could not really tell what it was. Seemed a bit like a perfume bottle of sorts. Looking a bit like crystal, with some fancy stopper, a long thin neck, and a rounded base. “Maybe…? A new fragrance? Ohhhhhhh~! How thoughtful!” She smiled. “Maybe its smexy…I’d love to smell sexy before bed!” She smiled.

    One hand gripped the bottle, and the other the top. She pulled the top off, causing a loud pop sound. Then, smoke began to emanate from the bottle’s mouth. She got a nice whiff, and sighed. “Hmmm…it smells like…wait, no…Maybe? …Raspb—Vani--? …Choco--? It’s changing ever so often…Wait! What’s the bottle doing?” Fear began to take over her, as the bottle began to billow out smoke. It dropped to the floor, as it slowly made way for her feet. “What the hell is it doing? Did I get drugged? Is the alcohol doing this?” She closed her eyes, and opened them quickly, realizing that this was really happening. Her eyes grew dilated. Maybe if she dropped the bottle, this would stop happening? She tried dropping the smoking object, but failed. She didn’t know if it was out of fear, or some other otherworldly force, but her hand felt glued to the bottle. Quickly, the smoke wrapped itself around the girl’s feet, and moved up the girl’s legs. Her torso began to be enveloped. Her eyes grew bigger and bigger the closer it got to her head. Fear enabled her to become helpless. She couldn’t find any strength to scream. She knew it would do nothing anyway…

    “This is a genie’s bottle…and I am the genie! …what a way to end a good birthday…” She sighed, as the smoke now ate away at her neck. She looked outside, seeing the dark night out from the window. She only wished she could have seen the sun rise, or even set, one final time, before she lost her freedom forever. Soon, the smoke began to blur her vision, before everything around her had gone black. The smoke covered person was sucked into the bottle, now floating in place where it was held prior. Once all had gone in, the topper squeezed itself back into the bottle’s mouth. The bottle then disappeared in thin air, leaving the room as vacant as it was prior to the girl coming home.

[nicjomo]

Chapter 2
A Friend Amidst the Dark
(Originally uploaded Feb. 14, 2016)

Darkness. Darkness greeted the girl as she slowly awoke. She felt like she had been out for hours…maybe even days. “Ugh…still night time? I must have been drunker than I thought. I swear I was out for a long time…” She slowly began to sit up, as she began to roll her neck around, trying to crack it. As she sat up, she slowly began to rock in place. “That’s funny…I could have sworn I was sleeping in my own bed? Why does it feel…hard…cold…metal-like?” She questioned, giving the ground a nice knock. “Maybe…this is a dream? No…no, it can’t be…I could actually feel the metal rapping at my knuckles… Well, let’s try the old trick…” She took her two fingers, and pinched herself. She yelped. “…No…? No, I definitely felt that… So then…If this isn’t a dream, then…where exactly am I?” She said, as she looked around her.

“I think you know exactly where you are…You just don’t wish to think it’s true.” A voice called out.

“Who said that?” The girl questioned. She looked around again, yet could find nothing. She stayed on guard, vigilant. She wasn’t a fighter, but if she needed to defend herself, she was ready to do so. Finally, a blinding white light filled the space. The girl had covered her eyes, trying to shield herself from the brightness. Finally, it seemed to disappear. The girl uncovered her eyes and, standing before her, she saw another young woman. She was a rather petite woman. She was thin in her waist, and so was her chest, though her breasts still carried a bit of weight to them. Her hair was a light lime green, which was fashioned into a ponytail. Two golden bands, with red and green gems in them, held the ponytail in place. At her ponytail’s end, her hair had a bit of redness to it. It was reminiscent of a paint brush dabbed in paint. Looking at the new girl further, her whole color scheme seemed to have this red and light lime green going for it: her bra was lime green with red for detail and her tail was green with a red band around her. Her eyes, though, did not include any red to them, only the green. But, whether it was on purpose or accident, the jewel around her neck, which seemed like it was an elven necklace, was red, almost balancing things out. The silver bracelets she wore around the tops of her arms seemed to be of an elven variety as well.

“Does this better answer your question?” She smiled. “My name is Sunny! I’m your genie guardian! It’s a pleasure to meet you!” She closed her eyes and tilted her head, the same smile never disappearing from her face.

The other girl, meanwhile, looked at her confused. “Well…it does answer one of my questions…But…It doesn’t answer where I am? And…now I feel you’ve opened up even more questions."

Sunny has opened her eyes, still smiling away. “Please…Feel free to ask anything! I should be able to answer any question you have.”

“Right…” The girl sighed, nodding. “First things first…where am I?”

“Oh, that’s an easy question. But…I honestly think you should reason it out yourself. You were there after all~” She giggled. “Just think what you were doing before…”

“Easier said than done, what with all the drinking…But I’ll try…” She closed her eyes, trying to remember what had happened. Out of the clear blue, the memory seemed to hit her like a ton of bricks. She opened her eyes, gasping. “Oh my—I do remember it! I was…coming home from a party…drunk…I knew that much. I had gotten home, and I found a bottle…I brought it upstairs to my place…began dancing around—ugh, I do remember doing that. Good thing no one was around to see that mess! …Finally, I got to my room, and looked at the bottle…And then—.”  She paused for a moment. She looked rather confused. She looked up at Sunny, puzzled. “…I opened the bottle?”

Sunny just nodded. “I know you remember. I can see it in your face.”

“I opened the bottle, and then smoke poured out of it…it started to engulf me…everything got foggy…Like a purple cloud covering my eyes. It got darker and darker…And then I ended up here…” She stopped, looking up at Sunny. “So…that wasn’t some dream? Or some crazy side effect of alcohol? I’m…actually in the bottle?”

    Sunny just smiled still, nodding. “I told you that you would remember!” She then closed her eyes, clapping slightly.

“So…I’m in the bottle… And you’re a genie? …Does that mean I’m your new Master? Or well…if I’m a girl…Mistress? Or, however titles work?” Hope soon filled her eyes. Maybe she wasn’t going to be a genie after all!

Sunny stopped clapping, looking at the girl. She sensed the hope now boiling up inside of her. Sunny felt the girl give up the idea that she was no longer a genie…her last words as a free mortal. Sunny hated to steer the girl back to her original thinking and crush her. She sighed, knowing that she had to tell her. “Well…as I said earlier…I’m a genie guardian. While, yes, I am a genie, my job is to watch out and train the new genie of the bottle…And because the bottle captured you…You, my dear…are the genie.”

Horror filled the girl’s face, as hope now fled from her very soul. “…No…No! …But I’m—I don’t--! There must--!” Her lip began to quiver, and she lay down on the floor. She bawled her eyes out as she realized she was now an immortal prisoner. As she cried, she thought how foolish it was to think that a bottle capturing you meant anything other than djinnification. Thinking that only made things worse for her.

Sunny floated over to her, placing a caring hand on the girl’s shoulder. “I’m…I know this must be a lot to take in…I know things were different for me. But…at least you have someone else in the bottle with you. You’re not lonely like a lot of other genies are…”

The girl looked up at her, sniffling. “You’re wrong…I’m captive in some stupid bottle…With a genie I just met…Away from the life I knew…my friends and people I cared about…” She paused, sniffling some more. “Why does that all seem blurry now? …Sunny?”

Sunny frowned some more. “You’re not going to like the answer… When the bottle claimed you, it erased some of your memories…Erased your old life to make room for this new one. The only clear memory you have is getting captured by the bottle…”

The girl looked over at Sunny, almost staring at her blankly. “…Oh…Well…I…I guess that’s okay…Anything bad in my life I’ve forgotten about. Any deaths…People being asses to me… But anything good in my life is just…gone. Like throwing away a cherished toy…My family…all the good things my friends have done for me…My first kiss…” Her lips quivered again. She threw herself at Sunny, wailing again. “I want to go back, Sunny! I wish to go back!”

Sunny just brushed the girl’s hair, trying to soothe her. “I wish I could help…As a trainee genie, you cannot grant yourself freedom if a master wishes it. Even when you get to your full power…I-I don’t think it would be worth it. It might be years…decades...maybe centuries before you reach that point. At that point—“

“—I…I would… b-b-b-be a mortal if the wish was made, but…but I wouldn’t know anyone except the Master…or Mistress who freed me…” The girl cried. After a few moments, she started to calm down, clearing up her tears. Once she had completely stopped, she sighed, grabbing her head. “I don’t know if it’s the fact I can’t remember anything anymore, or some weird genie powers kicking in…or Stockholm Syndrome…but…If this is my supposed life now…I guess…So be it. No use being upset for all eternity over it.”


Copyright 2020, TheGamingCentaur https://www.deviantart.com/thegamingcentaur

Sunny nodded, continuing to brush her hair. “Right. It’s no use fighting since it already happened. Not that you shouldn’t be upset, or just accept it like that! But…your fate is sealed…” Sunny chuckled, nervously.

The girl smiled, pulling away from Sunny to look at her. She shook her head. “Yeah…sealed alright. Well…as a genie, I’ll at least get to see the world. And…I’ve made a new friend, on the bright side.” She giggled, winking at the girl.

Sunny smiled. “And you’re not alone…I will never leave…Well, unless you need me to vanish for a bit for privacy, but…” She giggled. “Besides! Think of all that magic you can harness. Or will eventually harness. Ever wanted to be a witch when you were a little girl?”

    “I wouldn’t know…My past memory is gone, remember?” The girl turned to Sunny, smirking.

“Oh yeah…” Sunny blushed, feeling embarrassed.

The girl smiled. “Sorry, I had to…But I feel like magic used to be something I was interested in.” She giggled, thinking about the future. “You know? This sounds like an adventure…It sounds like it could be fun.”

“Oh, I think you’ll like it.” Sunny smiled, hugging the girl again.

[nicjomo]

Chapter 3
A Guiding Light

Emptiness. Emptiness was felt by the genie girl as her eyes had opened up from her slumber. How many times had she fallen asleep in her new home now? A few times? Hundreds? Thousands? How long had she been in the bottle? A day? A month? A year? Maybe all of this was just mere minutes. Time on the inside could be going slower than the rate of time in the outside world. She turned her head, looking at Sunny, arms hugging herself as she slept cutely. She gave a small smile watching her friend sleeping adorably, knowing that she had company. But her smile soon vanished, as she remembered that she was still stuck in the purple bottle, only looking at blank walls and hearing the disturbing sound of silence, save for their breathing. During her time inside, she had no magical training whatsoever. All Sunny said was to sleep. She would need all the sleep she could get to keep her strength up for her master. Once a master had been found, the training could begin. She stared up at the top of the bottle, losing herself in her thoughts. She wondered what her first master would be like. Would they be a kind person? She hoped so. It would be boring if she stayed in this godforsaken prison only to grant some wishes for someone with half a brain. Or worse, find a cruel master who might plan of abusing his wishes, possibly torture her. She shook the thought of idiot masters out of her mind for now, and contemplated more about being a genie. She thought it was lucky that she was stuck here with Sunny. How many genies had the benefit of being stuck in a bottle with someone? It would just be them...alone. Waiting. Worrying. Watching as the rest of the world went on without them. The genie girl sat up, holding onto her knees. That thought really got to her. Though she had no memory of any of her friends or family, they were now going on without her. Would they worry about her? Or, did something magical happen where the memory of her had just...faded out of existence? Like what happened when she was engulfed into the bottle? She let out a forlorn sigh.

She was completely and utterly bored now. She did not wish to continue to sleep. She was not tired. She had to do something to make this at least a bit more bearable. She looked to Sunny, and began to nudge her. “Sunny? Hey, Sunny… wake up.”

“Mmmmm…?” Sunny’s eyes fluttered open, as she let out a yawn. “Morning... Is...is the bottle being rubbed?”

“Not yet… I’m sure I’ll be freaking out when that happens.” The genie girl chuckled.

Sunny gave a tired smile. “No need to worry or freak out… So, what’s up? Can’t sleep? I told you, if you sleep now--”

“I know, I know. I’ll be well rested to serve my Master.”

“That's right… You never know what kind of person he is.”

The girl sighed. “I get it. But I can’t just sleep the whole time! I have to be prepared to grant wishes too, right? What if I get commanded to do something, but because I haven't practised I fail?”

Sunny smiled, sitting up now and giving a stretch. “You won’t fail. But, if it gives you peace of mind… We’ll try it out, ok?”

The girl smiled, nodding. “Thanks, Sunny. I really appreciate that.”

Sunny cleared her throat, standing up. “Ok. First thing’s first. Imagine I am your Master. It is rather dark in here. Genie, I wish for some light!”

The girl smirked. “One light coming up, Master” She paused looking at her hands, a blank stare across her face and her smile slowly faded. “Uhm…How? How would I begin to do that?”

“Start with something small.” Sunny instructed. “Snap your fingers, and think of an object that would make light.”

The girl nodded, closing her eyes and focusing. Her memories had been wiped, but she still had recollections about some common items. A flashlight appeared in her head. She snapped her fingers and…

“Excellent!” Sunny cheered. The girl opened her eyes to see that she indeed produced the flashlight she had thought about, sitting in her hand.

“Woah...How...how was I able to do that?”

“Magic, duh!” Sunny laughed. “It courses through your body now. As long as you focus, you should be able to produce anything. How about something better than this flashlight?”

The genie nodded, as she closed her eyes again. She focused on something else. Better than a flashlight? Well…

Sunny giggled. “Really, Trainee?” The genie girl opened her eyes, and saw that she now held two flashlights.

“It’s better than A flashlight. It’s two!” The genie exclaimed.

“Well...maybe this will be a good way to teach you how to send something away. Make it disappear.” Sunny nodded. “Imagine them...fading away. Being deconstructed of the magic that makes it this solid object.” The genie nodded, as she closed her eyes, imagining the flashlights vanishing. She imagined the two objects as they were slowly fading into the darkness, before it just enveloped them. Sunny clapped her hands, as the genie opened her eyes. “Hey, look at you! You grant a wish? You made it appear! Need to do away with something? Poof! It’s gone.”

The genie girl nodded, smiling that it seemed so easy. She made a big deal of nothing, but yet...just doing something, seeing herself be able to do this...It did give her peace of mind. “...Hey Sunny? I...I want to actually try to give you something better now. I want to take this seriously.”

 

Sunny smiled. “I was hoping you would. Give me a second flashlight after wanting to try your magic?” She giggled. “Go ahead. What, to you, is better than two flashlights?” The genie closed her eyes as she began to focus once again. Better than two flashlights? Well...they were never lit...The instruction was to give some light. Maybe I can make my own this time… Do I remember what light is though? It feels like forever… If I remembered a flashlight, then maybe…? Her hands slowly began to move and form, looking as if they were shaping a sphere. Her brows began to furrow, as she tried really hard to think about light. The only thing that was in her mind was the surrounding darkness. Come on... Sunny watched in anticipation, now that this new object seemed harder to conjure up than the flashlight. But she did not speak. She folded her arms and watched the trainee at work. The genie girl tried hard, eyes closing a bit harder now. You remembered a flashlight, but you can’t find the thing that it produces? Light! ...Light! Why can’t I find you? The genie girl was struggling to get the object she so desperately wanted. However, from Sunny’s perspective, the other genie noticed something with her hands. The genie’s hands began to glow a bit, and a small white orb began to form between her hands. The white orb grew bigger and bigger, filling her hands up, and even spilling a bit past her skin. Sunny stood there, her eyes taking in the light source, as she marveled at it, her smile growing bigger and her mouth opening slightly. “Trainee...Look...!” She calmly said.


Copyright 2020, Johnathan-Mathews (Khunis)  https://www.deviantart.com/johnathon-matthews

The genie girl opened her eyes and saw the object she was so desperately trying to form: an orb of light, shunning the darkness away. “It worked…? ...it worked!” She smiled, as she let it keep going, even laughing a bit. “But how? I didn’t see anything in my mind. I tried...I didn’t even snap my fingers!”

“Seems like you’re moving a step higher on the magic ladder!” Sunny giggled. “It happens sometimes. Some things can just be summoned with a snap of the fingers and a visualization. Some things...don’t.” She giggled. “They just act like you’re activating a power. I guess magic that’s more...elemental rather than summoning an object. Does that make sense?”

The girl nodded. “I think? So… If I was giving my master money...it could be a snap? But...something like fire doesn’t need a snap. I just create it like I did the light?”

Sunny nodded. “Exactly! Well, there’s probably some things that you may need to practice, but I think for the most part you’ve mastered the basic art of genie-dom. Everything else is just the same!” The genie girl focused back on her light, marveling at the work she did. This was her power now. She felt a bit more confident, even if it was two flashlights and an orb of light.

Sunny looked away from the focusing genie, as she began to sense something. Her smile slowly faded, as her face began to focus. She looked up, as she heard something begin to move. She saw a tiny spec of white showing from the top. “Trainee...look up…” The genie girl took her focus off the orb and looked confusingly at Sunny, before looking at the ceiling. She, too, saw the tiny light above, as it formed into a tiny crescent of light, slowly growing bigger and bigger. “Wait...No...Is that…?”

Sunny nodded. “Yes. Your first master has found your bottle.”